Hello...novice here. I have a decent grill that is only a year or two old. It has always worked very well and no issues. It came time to exchange the gas tank, so I did my normal routine of loosening the line (its by hand/no tools required) and exchanged it for a previously filled tank from the local gas station.

Now, the next time I went to use it, it worked for about 3 minutes and then the gas went out. I looked below and the line had FROZEN over (ice was apparent). Regulator was frozen, line was frozen right to the connection on the gas tank.

I then called the company who told me it was most likely a bad line/regulator. I went to home depot, bought a new universal line and installed it. No luck though, same issue.

Could a propane tank actually cause this problem? Is there any other steps I should consider? Is it possible that I bought a bad (brand new) regulator/line?

What should I do next?

Sounds like you have a bad tank. Try another tank.
btw
Who made the tank you have. Is it Ameri-gas Blue rhino or someone else

my guess is that it is someone else. Its definitely not Blue Rhino, and I dont recall any writing on it. Yeah, I guess I need to try a different tank. Do you think a bad tank could actually do this? Doesnt make sense to me, but Im not a physics guy.

The reason I asked is because most tanks are made by the big two.
The reason is that OPD is now required.
The older no name tanks dont have it and the tanks often have problems.
When you said you got a tank refill from a gas station that sent up a red flag.

An Overfill Prevention Device (OPD) is required on all vertical cylinders between 4 lbs. and 40 lbs., if the state where you are filling the cylinder has passed a law requiring an OPD. An OPD is currently required in most states. An OPD is a specially designed float device that prevents accidental overfilling, which can cause undesirable gas venting. An OPD valve also stops the flow of gas when a cylinder is not connected. For more information, please visit the National Fire Protection Association Regulations homepage at http://www.nfpa.org.

Dang...you are da man. Im in California if it means anything. Ill have to go get a Blue Rhino or something and try it out. Have no idea about the OPD on this tank. Ill let you know though when Im no longer too lazy to go do something about it. Im really starting to miss my Korean Short Ribs (Hawaiian style). Im really lazy (also Hawaiian style) a.k.a "laid back".

You can tell that a tank has an OPD if the valve handle is triangular or 3 sided as opposed to round or 5-sided on the older, now obsolete tanks. Most Blue Rhino tanks also have a proprietary OPD installed that prevents their tanks from being refilled by someone other than a Blue Rhino refiller.

Yea - I made the Blue Rhino mistake once and I was pissed when I went to get it filled and it didn't work.

But, while its true alot of their tanks have the proprietary TS2 valve (meaning only Blue Rhino can fill them so you're forced into an exchange), it turns out that alot of their tanks don't, you just have to take a close look at the SIDE of the valve when you pick it out. The proprietary ones have a triangular indentation on the side where a magnetic tool is required to pull a metal ball out of the way so gas can flow in. The regular refillable valves don't have this indentation (see attachment 1).

As someone else mentioned, you can tell an updated OPD valve by the handle - the triangular is the newer style, the star or round shaped is the older (attachment 2)

Also, be aware that Blue Rhino doesn't fill the tanks to capacity - the average weight of gas from a Blue Rhino tank exchange is 16-17 lbs vs 20lbs if you get it filled yourself, so you're getting the short end of the stick on that front also.

Oh - and in response to the original post.

The freezing is probably due to overpressurization somewhere in the system. If the tank is overfilled, there is a much greater pressure differential which causes rapid expansion of gas which causes a big temperature drop which freezes any surrounding moisture (humidity). So, it could be the result of an overfilled or faulty tank, or less likely, a faulty regulator (since it was working before).

On my portable grill, I have freezing regulator issues when connected to the small green 1lb propane bottles after a few minutes, but no issues when connected to a 20lb tank.

excellent work everyone. Im pumped to make some ribs. Oh, you want to watch a funny bar-b-que video. This is a local cooking show called "Sam the cooking guy". Hes HILARIOUS and makes VERY VERY easy food. Its for people who like great food, but dont want to take forever cooking it. Watch the video...youll appreciate the bar-b-que portion.
Heres the link: http://thecookingguy.com/cookbook/recipe.php?id=312

Thanks again for all the help. Ill try the new tank and let everyone know.

With an over filled tank you was pulling liquid instead of vapor which will cause freezing issues. Same with the small tanks if you have large BTU burners they will pull liquid rather than vapor as the gas has not had time to vaporize.

I checked out your link, and thoroughly enjoyed Sam! Especially when he dropped one rack on the floor (to the dog's delight)! I don't think I would ever have been able to eat that rack myself, but........

Thanks for the video link - wish he had a video for each of his recipes!

Mike

Mike! Hes AWESOME! He does have several videos up there for viewing. Since this is a BBQ forum, I would also recommend that you watch the cedar plank salmon video. Also great for a smile, if not a down right laugh out loud! He is local in San Diego, but his show has expanded to Phoenix, New York and Tucson I believe. Also, he may do some discovery channel work. Go watch the Salmon video and all his others. Heck, you could probably YouTube him as well. VERY cool guy. I actually went to a "cooking class" at his house (as seen in the video). More like a little dinner party than a class, but very fun guy. Lastly, if you look up "garlic fries" on his site...thats from me.
Later!